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Unlike health and education, states’ total spending on public security in 2021 was below that seen before the pandemic period. Spending on public security, considering the 26 states and the Federal District, was 3.4% lower than in 2019, despite the favorable situation for revenues in the last two years. In addition to fueling demonstrations that are still taking place in some states to use up the last days of the deadline for adjustments above inflation in an election year, the situation also shows, according to experts, the need for a new model of organization and financing of public security.
In Minas Gerais, the Legislative Assembly approved on Tuesday a 24% adjustment for public security. Also on Tuesday, the government of São Paulo raised salaries of civil servants in public security by 20%. In Rio Grande do Sul, the police will hold a new demonstration on Thursday to ask for salary adjustment for inflation of the last three years. According to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), due to the elections, raises above inflation to public servants can be granted this year only until April 5.
The drop in spending on public security compared with health and education. The health crisis naturally increased health expenditures, which ended 2021 with a real increase of 15.9% compared to 2019. Spending in this field exceeded the 10.8% growth in current net revenue in the same period. Expenditure on education grew at a slower rate than revenue, but ended last year with a 7.1% increase compared to the pre-pandemic period.
The data collected by the Solidarity Research Network consider the expenses committed to public security reported by states. The 2019 and 2020 values were updated by the IPCA, Brazil’s benchmark inflation index. Expenses consider costs, payroll and investments. States represent about 80% of public sector expenditure on public security.
The real drop in expenses with public security in 2021 compared to 2019 occurred in 14 of the 27 federative entities, according to the data collected by the Network. For Ursula Dias Peres, a researcher at the Center of Metropolis Studies of the University of São Paulo (CEM/USP) and the Solidarity Research Network, the decline in security expenses in the total of the states is not large, but relevant because salary adjustments are restricted since 2020 and, in view of the increase in state revenues last year, the situation favored pressure from servants this year.
The higher collection of sales tax ICMS last year was not anticipated and led to an adjustment of spending by the states during the year, the researcher said. At the same time, Complementary Law 173 of 2020, which restricted salary adjustments, was in force until the end of 2021.
“This has heavily affected fields more dependent on human capital, such as public security, civil and military police and fire departments,” Ms. Peres said. She recalled that, in general, it was not necessary to cut programs, since the effect of the lack of adjustments naturally led to a reduction in expenses. She considers that there is heterogeneity between the states. There is no standard governance model, which results in different payroll weights for expenditures.
The good financial situation of the states did not go unnoticed by security civil servants. Cláudio Wohlfahrt, financial director of Ugeirm, a union of police clerks, inspectors and investigators in Rio Grande do Sul, says that the state’s GDP grew 10.4% in 2021, more than double the federal rate of 4.6%, and that the collection last year exceeded the budget forecast.
“The government’s coffer is full,” he said. The claim of security civil servants, who organized a strike on Tuesday and are expected to demonstrate again on Thursday, is to ask for adjustments that have not been made since 2019, says Mr. Wohlfahrt.
In a note, the Finance Department of Rio Grande do Sul says that, in recent years, it had no margin to guarantee any adjustment to civil servants, having delayed salaries for 57 months. Only in 2020, with reforms and adjustment measures, it was possible to catch up on salaries. The fiscal situation has improved, the government said, but the only issue that can currently be discussed is a general revision. The Rio Grande do Sul government announced that it will send to the Legislative Assembly a proposal for a general 6% adjustment for public servants, with an annual impact of R$1.5 billion.
What is not yet known, says Ms. Peres, is how ICMS will behave this year. Last year, revenue from the main tax collected by the states increased, partly due to the recovery of the economy and also driven by inflation and fuel prices. This year, she recalls, there are already changes in the tax levied on fuel. And any adjustment given in an election year for public security will be permanent.
Ms. Peres explains that, unlike health and education, security does not have a minimum constitutional allocation that obliges states to spend according to the level of revenue growth. In addition to the issue of destination, there are also important differences with other public services. Health, for example, says Ms. Peres, in addition to having been more impacted by the nature of the Covid-19 health crisis, in some states it is also operated largely by third parties, through social organizations, which makes spending less subject to restrictions on salary adjustments.
For sociologist Samira Bueno, executive director of the Brazilian Forum on Public Security (FBSP), an NGO that collects and monitors data in this field, one of the great challenges for associations that represent security civil servants is to claim salary adjustments at a time when indicators show a reduction in crime rates. According to the Violence Monitor, a partnership between FBSP and news outlet G1, there were 41,100 murders in 2021 in the country, down 7% from the previous year and the lowest number since 2007.
Source: Valor International